Wow.

There sure are a lot of launches going down, online. Seems like everyone who has something to sell is trying to work people into a bug-eyed frenzy before allowing anyone to buy it.

I love good marketing tactics. The launch process is a good-un, based on sound classic salesmanship… but geez louise. I’m getting forty emails a day from people I don’t know who pretend to be my closest buddy in the world, telling me the foreplay is almost over, and the long-awaited climax is just around the corner…

Let’s just please all get a grip for a moment here.

There are products that deserve to be launched, with all due pomp and circumstance… and there are products that, frankly, look kinda like that emperor with no clothes on.

Sometimes, a circus is just another circus. And they aren’t all the greatest show on earth.

Look… when I tout something to you in an email, or here in the blog, it’s because I’m sold on it. I think it’s a good thing to at least give a “look-see”… and I’ve checked it out first.

For me, that’s a major part of the definition of being a “go-to guy” — to not squander any good will I’ve created with you, and not to be a whore about every commissioned project that I get asked to tout. (And I get asked a lot.)

If I say something’s worth checking out, I’m telling you from my heart and my professional experience. (And hard as it may be to believe, I have even done this without expecting or asking for — or receiving — any kick-back of any kind. I’m a die-hard capitalist, but I also take my job as a teacher damn seriously. I think my blogs and newsletters back this up.)

I can appreciate any marketing tactic that gets people’s blood pumping.

But really… when all is said and done… the bottom line will always be basic salesmanship and classic business savvy. My friend Mike — himself part of a multi-million dollar launch of a worthwhile product that actually delivers the goods — said it very succinctly: “All you really need to be successful… is a business mind and someone who can write the copy.”

Take a deep breath and cogitate on that for a moment. It’s brilliant.

This simple statement sent me off to many hours of quiet time… while I considered the implications of this truth for myself and my various projects and businesses. I’ve been so top-heavy on the copy side, that I sort of neglected the business side. I just blind-sided myself, and maybe forgot some of my own best lessons.

I am an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur — by God, I started out all on my lonesome, working out of the house… and I have resisted partnering up with anyone because that “do it alone” paradigm has actually worked out pretty darned well. For years, it’s just been me and Diane… and she only works a few hours a day here. (She does the work of three other people, but her input is still limited by time.)

But I’ve finally realized that the copy-heavy thing is hurting me.

And so… I have enlisted the help of some very impressive business-heavy minds (and one in particular)… and for the first time, I am allowing someone to take control of the business angle for my most cherished projects. He’s a good, trusted friend, and for the first time in a while, I’m genuinely thrilled about a new venture.

This is not a launch of anything… and really, it may not mean much to you from where you sit. Except that, by freeing myself from the shackles of business details, I will be able to pay more attention to writing good stuff… and taking even better care of clients and subscribers.

First order of “new” business: It appears there are many people whose membership in my Insider’s Club has expired… and I have not told them that they have an opportunity to renew.

I discovered this, today, when I received several emails from past Insiders who wanted to know if I was mad at them or something… because I’d never asked them to re-join.

They had — due to my negligence — become “outsiders”.

If you are an expired Insider, and somehow you have never been asked to re-join… well, I apologize. I’m not mad at anyone, and frankly I’m a little embarrassed I haven’t followed up more diligently.

If I were my client, I’d throttle myself.

So here’s the deal: If you have ever been an Insider, at any time since the Club was founded back in 2001… and you would like to rejoin… just shoot Diane an email. Send it to: diane@marketingrebel.com… and write “Diane, about my Insider’s renewal” in the subject line, so you’ll get special attention.

In your email, simply give your name, and say you want to find out how to become an Insider again. We’ll break a leg getting back to you. And yes, you get a very special deal.

Very special.

The Insider’s Club is still the best bargain in the industry… and most (not just some, but most) of the players in online marketing today have partook of the pleasures of being an Insider at one time or another. It is — as you should know from your days as an Insider yourself — the real thing.

And you need to act on this quickly, too.

Why? Well, as I said, I’m not launching anything… but I am finally listening to my friends who are “business heavy”… and I am creating the hands-on mentoring program people have been begging me to start for years now.

And Insiders will get the first right of refusal.

This is no idle bluff — I have always kept my seminars small and intimate (and never, ever pitched attendees on anything), and always given my personal attention to every critique and piece of advice. Like I’ve said — it’s just been me and Diane here all these years. No other staff, and I don’t “job” stuff out.

I keep things small.

So any mentoring program I offer will clog up fast. Insiders will hear about it long before anyone else… and it may yet remain one of the most hidden and underground programs for shortcutting your way to the Good Life ever offered.

If I don’t need to let the general public hear about it… I won’t. I don’t need the glory.

Man, I’m just trying to deliver the goods here. For most of my career, I was the original “secret weapon”, and I never sought center-stage. I will happily go back to being anonymous… as long as I can continue to do the work I was built to do. Which is nothing less than a radical transformation of the way the average entrepreneur gets his sales message out.

Because, even after all these years of multiple “guru’s” claiming to teach people how to do all these wonderful things… the sad truth is this: Most advertising out there still sucks mightily… and most entrepreneurs still squander every opportunity to make the Big Bucks and earn their place at the feast that life offers.

Every day, the list of readers for this humble blog grows longer and longer. If you’re new here, most of this rambling will probably just go right over your head… and that’s fine. At least you got here, and with the archives, you have a chance to catch up if you choose to.

However… if you already feel you understand me, and appreciate what a grizzled, proven veteran like me brings to the table… then this news of a mentoring program should have already sent your blood pressure through the top of your skull.

My favorite slogan is: “This stuff sure is fun when it finally starts working, ain’t it.”

I’ve been able to share the joy of that slogan with numerous clients and students and Insiders over the past few years. And it IS fun when the money starts pouring in, and the respect blossoms, and all the parts of living well and living fully finally come together.

If you’re an Insider, you’ll be hearing more soon. If you’re not… we’ll see.

At any rate, those of us who love this business appreciate honest excitement. It’s the life-blood of success, when harnassed and focused on the right targets and goals.

So stay frosty. The times, they are a changin’…

John Carlton
www.marketingrebel.com

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